Court date set for ICJ case with E Timor

AUSTRALIA will in January get the chance to defend an ASIO raid on the office of a lawyer acting for East Timor at the UN's top court in The Hague.

East Timor filed proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this week and on Friday the court announced hearing dates of January 20-22.

"The convening of the court for purposes of proceeding to a decision on a request for the indication of provisional measures should be dealt with as a matter of urgency," ICJ president Judge Peter Tomka said in a statement.

The domestic spy organisation ASIO in early December raided lawyer Bernard Collaery's office and seized documents relating to a dispute with Australia over a $40 billion oil and gas treaty.

Dili argues the documents belong to East Timor and it has the right to protect them under international law.

East Timor wants the court to provisionally rule that all of the documents seized be immediately handed over to the ICJ.

It also wants all copies to be destroyed and a list of which documents were passed to which people along with their job description.

Finally, Dili is demanding that Canberra not spy on East Timor.

The documents relate to East Timor's challenge to the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea.

Dili has accused Australia of bugging its cabinet office during 2004 treaty negotiations.

Attorney-General George Brandis approved warrants for the December 3 raid on Mr Collaery's office and another raid on the home of a former spy who is a key witness in East Timor's pre-existing case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.